Viking Sun - Viking Homelands Review - May 2018

5/17/2018-6/2/2018 including Pre-Cruise Oslo & Bergen

This was our first Viking Ocean cruise. We went with my parents who have cruisedViking River many many times. Ages inour party are 46, 43, 67 and 71. Westarted planning this trip in September 2016. We knew we wanted to do a Baltic Cruise on a smaller sized ship. We researched Regent, Oceania, Silverseas andViking. We decided on Viking for manyreasons but the most important was the more relaxed atmosphere, my parents pastexperiences with Viking, and the newness of the ship. All four of us are avid cruises with Princessand Holland America primarily. We wantedto try something new.

It’s funny…while on the cruise there were a few littlethings that annoyed me (I will get to that in a minute) but since being home(four weeks now), all I can think about is when can I go on another VikingOcean cruise again. We will probably bedoing one in 2020. We are bookedcurrently on a Princess cruise for 2019 and although we are excited for it andgot a good deal, we are a little concerned that now that we have tried Viking,we won’t enjoy anything else.

The Not as Good – I don’t want to say bad because it wasn’tbad, just observations:

• We did the pre-cruise through Viking for onenight in Oslo, scenic train to Bergen than one night in Bergen before boardingthe ship on May 19th. Thepre-cruise was ok, but pricey and I think we could have done better and seen moreon our own. Especially now that we knowthere are services that would have taken our bags to the ship and we wouldn’thave had to lug them around with us.
  
• There were times on board when you couldn’t getany food other than room service. I amnot used to this. The World Café wouldclose at 10:00am and not reopen until 11:30am for lunch. On the rare occasions (it was a jam-packedschedule) that we could sleep in late, we kept missing breakfast.
  
• We were quite young for this cruise. There were very few couples or people aroundour age or younger onboard. We knew thisgoing in but were a little surprised how much younger we were (46 & 43)than most of the people on board. VikingOcean is wonderful and I think they should do some more marketing to younger (Istill consider myself young) demographic.
  

The Good:

• The food was very good. We loved our evenings relaxing over dinner inThe Restaurant. We also enjoyed our 4visits to the Chef’s Table and 2 visits to Manfredi’s. Some of the Chef’s Table menus were a littlescary to some of us, but we powered through and enjoyed the experience. The only small complaint with The Restaurantis that sometimes the food came out not quite hot enough…more on the luke warmside.
  
• The Silver Spirits Package – we are a little bitof wine snobs. Not that we need to drinkexpensive wine every night, but we like the taste of good wine. We did not like the included wines on the firstnight and decided, what the heck, let’s splurge on the drink package. We are so happy we did. We were able to take full advantage of this.
  
• The Entertainment – the production shows werevery good. They had a Fabba Four Show(Beatles and Abba music) and a 60s show. The singers were great. We alsowent to the Polish Polka Dancing show while in Gdansk and that was very nicelydone. The magician was just ok. His tricks were a little basic for our taste.
  
• The Excursions – we did some included and someextra. For the most part, they lived upto expectations and didn’t disappoint. The only exception to this was the Lubeck & Wismar optionalexcursion in Germany. The description ofthe tour was not quite accurate and we were quite disappointed with it. One optional tour that we loved and wouldhighly recommend was in Tallinn – The Soviet Flashback Tour. It was wonderful.
  

The Outstanding:

• The Service – I cannot say enough about theservice. It was phenomenal. By day 2 or 3, they knew us by names. The moment we sat down in the Living Room,Simba (our wonderful waiter) would stop by to see if we wanted our usualpre-dinner drinks or something new today. After the first day, we didn’t even have to tell him our cabin #, heknew it. It was so nice walking througha ship and having employees always smiling and greeting you by name. We were all blown away by the level ofservice we encountered.
  
• The Ship is gorgeous. I can’t even describe it. I loved everything about it. The clean lines. The soft tones. The high end touches. I felt so at home on her. From the first moment we boarded, we feltwelcomed.
  
• The Stateroom – we had a Penthouse Veranda andit was wonderful. Storage wasgreat. The bathroom was huge (comparedto most ship bathrooms). The bed wasvery comfortable. The extra room andstorage was worth the extra money in our opinion for the Penthouse Veranda.
  
• The Itinerary – WOW…we saw so much. We were exhausted by the end of it but it wasall worth it. Every penny spent wasworth it. And I would do it allagain.
  

I think that about covers it. I would be happy to answer anyquestions. Overall, my recommendationis…BOOK A VIKING OCEAN CRUISE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! You won’t be sorry.

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. It was helpful. My wife & I will be on our fist Viking cruise in Jan 2019 (after sailing SS, Regent, Crystal, PG, Windstar and Seabourn the last 8 years).

1. Did you try the sparkling wine or Prosecco included with the beverage package? If so, how was it?

2. For the Fabba Four show, was the music played live by a band, or were only the vocals live?

3. Assuming you ordered room service, how was it and how extensive was the room service menu? Like you, my wife & I are in our 40s and like to sleep late then go to the gym every morning, so we rarely make breakfast. Were breakfast items on the room service menu, or do you have to hang the breakfast card on the door knob the night before for room service breakfast?

4. Did you use the gym? If so, did it get crowded?

5. Did other parts of the ship ever seem crowded?

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. It was helpful. My wife & I will be on our fist Viking cruise in Jan 2019 (after sailing SS, Regent, Crystal, PG, Windstar and Seabourn the last 8 years).

 

1. Did you try the sparkling wine or Prosecco included with the beverage package? If so, how was it? I had the Prosecco just about each night before dinner. It was very good. The wine by the class menu is pretty extensive. Much more options than other cruise lines we have been on.

2. For the Fabba Four show, was the music played live by a band, or were only the vocals live? Live band as well. The live band was very good.

 

3. Assuming you ordered room service, how was it and how extensive was the room service menu? Like you, my wife & I are in our 40s and like to sleep late then go to the gym every morning, so we rarely make breakfast. Were breakfast items on the room service menu, or do you have to hang the breakfast card on the door knob the night before for room service breakfast? We ordered room service late one night when we got a little hungry. It came pretty quickly and was hot. I do not remember what breakfast items were available on the room service menu as we didn't order room service for breakfast. Sorry.

 

4. Did you use the gym? If so, did it get crowded? We did go to the gym and it was not overly crowded. The equipment is nice. We also used the spa quite a bit (I forgot to mention above). The spa was GREAT. I was surprised at how much I liked the snow room.

 

5. Did other parts of the ship ever seem crowded? Nowhere on the ship felt crowded except for the shows in the main theater. It would get a little crowded in that hallway but not really. There are so many places to find to relax and have a quiet moment. It is really quite refreshing.

I added my answers above. I hope it helps.

Very helpful. Thanks for the answers.

Very helpful. Thanks for the answers.

I will second JennRon as we started this year with 4 fabulous months on Viking Sun. Again, the best crew ever. I just cannot say enough about how well the crew took care of us. Even when rotations took place, the ones coming on were every bit as good as those leaving. As far as room service, in addition to the good room service menu, we were able to order off the main dining room or even Manfredi's menu during those venues operating hours. A huge win for those evenings you just want to chill and watch a movie. Viking are expanding rapidly so I hope they will maintain the quality they have established so far. Their bookings are a huge success and other lines will need to up their game to compete.:cool:

Jim Avery,

Thanks for the additional, helpful info. We are excited about ours and expect it will be wonderful. I am a little concerned, for lack of a better word, of not being able to have champagne in the cabin (even with the beverage package) we have (standard verandah) as we are so used to having what we want in the room on SS, Crystal, Regent and SB. We tend to spend more time in there than most give our lazy schedule.

I have to ask about your second point in Not So Good. Did you not know about Mamsen's by the Explorer lounge on deck 7? I just checked my Viking Daily's from two previous cruises. They serve food ( great waffles ) from 6:30 A.M. till 11:00 and open again at 11:30 for lunch.

IMCPA: you are welcome to bring alcohol on the ship, if you wish, for your cabin and in the restaurants (no corkage charge). Our travel agent arranges for us to have a complimentary bottle of champagne each voyage, but it isn’t the highest quality (doesn’t stop us from drinking it). There are some nice bottles available on the ship and, as I said, you can pick up some when you dock at various ports.

I have to ask about your second point in Not So Good. Did you not know about Mamsen's by the Explorer lounge on deck 7? I just checked my Viking Daily's from two previous cruises. They serve food ( great waffles ) from 6:30 A.M. till 11:00 and open again at 11:30 for lunch.

Good morning. You are correct, Mamson's was opened for waffles. I should have clarified that we don't typically like something sweet for breakfast. We did go there the one morning we missed the buffet. The waffles were very good. The Not so Good things were very minor and nothing that would stop be from cruising Viking a million times.

Thanks for taking the time to write your review. It was helpful. My wife & I will be on our fist Viking cruise in Jan 2019 (after sailing SS, Regent, Crystal, PG, Windstar and Seabourn the last 8 years).

 

1. Did you try the sparkling wine or Prosecco included with the beverage package? If so, how was it?

 

2. For the Fabba Four show, was the music played live by a band, or were only the vocals live?

 

3. Assuming you ordered room service, how was it and how extensive was the room service menu? Like you, my wife & I are in our 40s and like to sleep late then go to the gym every morning, so we rarely make breakfast. Were breakfast items on the room service menu, or do you have to hang the breakfast card on the door knob the night before for room service breakfast?

 

4. Did you use the gym? If so, did it get crowded?

 

5. Did other parts of the ship ever seem crowded?

I can jump in and answer question 3 re room service. We were on the Sky in January, and ordered room service breakfast 3 times. You absolutely do not have to stick to the menu that is on the card that you hang on the door. You can write in anything you want on the card, and they bring it. We always ordered special items and they got it all to us within 2 minutes of the requested time, and the order was exactly correct.

Item 4, the gym, was crowded in the mornings on sea days. Otherwise, completely open.

Item 5: the ship was sailing full, and we never felt crowded anywhere. There was always a seat in the theatre for the evening show, and many times, I would literally be the only person in the corridor or on the stairs. We never waited for any meals in The Restaurant, and there were always plenty of tables in the World Cafe. The only spot on the ship that was “at capacity” was the Wintergaren at tea time. For that, especially on a sea day, you need to get there at 3:30 if you want a seat. By 4 p.m., every seat will be taken and there will be spill over crowds in adjacent seating areas. On the other hand, we went in one day at about 3:45 and there were plenty of openings.

Hi! You may be able to answer one of the only questions that I can't seem to find an answer for on the Viking website. I'm wondering if my husband and I should pack bathing suits for the spa. We're sailing on the Viking Sun in three weeks for the Homelands cruise and are looking forward to using the saunas, plunge pool and snow room. On a previous cruise on another line, the saunas were divided male and female and robes were worn. We don't intend to swim in the outdoor pool. Any info. would be helpful.

Hi! You may be able to answer one of the only questions that I can't seem to find an answer for on the Viking website. I'm wondering if my husband and I should pack bathing suits for the spa. We're sailing on the Viking Sun in three weeks for the Homelands cruise and are looking forward to using the saunas, plunge pool and snow room. On a previous cruise on another line, the saunas were divided male and female and robes were worn. We don't intend to swim in the outdoor pool. Any info. would be helpful.

Yes, pack swimsuits. The snow grotto and thermal pool are unisex - used by both men and women at the same time, so you’ll want swimsuits to enjoy those. The dry saunas are in the changing area for both men and women, so you can use those without a suit if you prefer.

Yes, pack swimsuits. The snow grotto and thermal pool are unisex - used by both men and women at the same time, so you’ll want swimsuits to enjoy those. The dry saunas are in the changing area for both men and women, so you can use those without a suit if you prefer.

Thank you so much for your quick response. It's very helpful!

Good morning. You are correct, Mamson's was opened for waffles. I should have clarified that we don't typically like something sweet for breakfast. We did go there the one morning we missed the buffet. The waffles were very good. The Not so Good things were very minor and nothing that would stop be from cruising Viking a million times.

Mamsen's had fantastic Norwegian herring for breakfast ;)

Jim Avery,

Thanks for the additional, helpful info. We are excited about ours and expect it will be wonderful. I am a little concerned, for lack of a better word, of not being able to have champagne in the cabin (even with the beverage package) we have (standard verandah) as we are so used to having what we want in the room on SS, Crystal, Regent and SB. We tend to spend more time in there than most give our lazy schedule.

If you have a package, room service will deliver champagne to the room. Mimosa for breakfast- yum! :) It's true that you could write on the card what you want for breakfast. One night I called room service (it was too much to write...lol) and asked if they could add herring from Mamsen's to my order. Sure enough, we had it :)